Cybercrime Frontline Blog

[#1]

This past week I attended a cybercrime investigator conference in Madrid, Spain that brought together global law enforcement.  The conference provided a good opportunity to listen to the views on cybercrime of different country’s law enforcement.

Global cooperation continues to be the main focus of need and concern among global law enforcement.  Cybercriminal attacks move freely across international borders.  Success against these attacks can only be achieved thru international cooperation.  The good news is that there is successful cooperation occurring.  Many police this week discussed helpful assistance they receive from global colleagues in their cases.  Unfortunately, police also told stories of frustration when dealing with police in some countries that are frequent sources of cybercrime activity.  Improving assistance and providing meaningful data about suspects remains a significant need for police.  It is extremely frustrating to track a criminal to a country, only to have that suspect hide behind an international border that is outside the jurisdiction of the foreign police tracking the suspect. 

Understanding technology also remains a concern for global investigators.  New devices and complex attacks by cybercriminals can stretch the technical capabilities of investigators.  It is easy to become frustrated with the constantly changing technology landscape.  Some investigators this week even suggested that new technology be ignored because there will be something else “new” tomorrow.  Others expressed a wish that they could build a wall against cyber attacks.  Of course, neither of these ideas is an option for success.  Technology does change, but ignoring its impact on citizens is not an effective solution.  Some technology, such as social networking, may change popular platforms over time, but the idea of social networking remains a part of modern culture.  Building walls against technology is also a failed solution.  It is easy to understand police frustration with criminals who originate attacks from foreign countries.   However building barriers against new technology only denies the public the benefits of technology because a few abuse it.  Technology is not bad because some people use it for bad purposes.

Finally, on a positive note, police expressed optimism that in fighting cybercrime they have good industry partners that can sometimes help.  If a crime is committed in a public park, the police must depend on their own resources.  However, cyberspace is a connected matrix of “parts” owned or controlled by various persons.  These “owners” include legitimate businesses and persons who often help law enforcement in cases.   This provides an opportunity for law enforcement to work with these friendly partners for assistance in the shared goal of stopping cybercrime. 

[#2]

Is there a TIPLINE of sorts to TIP off authorities to individuals involved in cybercrime?

[#3]

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).  IC3 is a TIPLINE where individuals can report suspected cybercrime. The IC3 gives the victims of cybercrime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations.

The IC3 website is located at:  www.IC3.gov.

[#4]

I recently have been a victim of cyber harassment, on going for about a year now. I just filed a complaint on IC3.gov, I am sure that my complaint will fall on deaf ears since it is not "that serious." A woman has been verbally harassing me on several sites, she "follows" me whenever she can. I stumbled here by trying to use Norton's Firewall and attempting to block her IP address along with her websites. I called the police when she did an audio blog threatening to come to my town and kick my ***. She was on a bus when she said it. The police said "ignore her and or get off the internet." I finally got a detective to listen and he gave me the link. Like I said, I don't feel that local authorities take any of this seriously. My fault for waiting a year, but I did think she would go away. Now back to trying to block her computer from own.

[#5]

I am not a lawyer, so this does not constitute legal advice--you should contact an attorney (or perhaps the DA's Office) if you're in a situation where you need professional assistance. If you are being harrassed online, then the evidence exists out there on servers that get backed up, etc., making it impossible for the alleged perpetrator to clean it all up. If there's enough evidence, and it's serious enough, you may be able to make your case that way.

You might be more successful in engaging local law enforcement if you collect a few of the examples we've been seeing in the national news lately, where cyberstalking has escalated into violent crime or suicide; in several of those cases, hard working police professionals have found themseves having to explain in the harsh glare of the media why they didn't act on evidence or complaints that had been presented to them earlier. This is a new twist on an old crime, and it's taking the profession some time to develop a full understanding of how real this can be.

Finally, if a perpetrator resides across a state line from someone they've been harrassing or stalking online, local law enforcement may not be your only option, as Federal jurisdiction might also apply.